A devastating combination of locust plagues and poor
rainfall has nearly wiped out the maize crop this year
in southern Madagascar. Other staple crops, such as cassava
and sweet potato, have also been affected. The southern area
is the poorest part of an island nation where 75 percent of
the people live below the poverty line. A Special Report
issued by an FAO/World Food Programme assessment mission to
the country in August/September 1997 found that harvests in
the Southern zone had been hardest hit by a locust plague
that started in October 1996, as well as by poor rainfall.

Madagascar: a flying swarm of
locusts

Reductions in cereal harvests in the worst affected areas
are estimated at between 30 and 80 percent compared to 1996
yields. People are moving north in search of seasonal work
and preliminary signs of child malnutrition have been
observed. The locusts have also devastated pasturelands in
the Southern, Central and Northern zones, leaving livestock
thin and hungry. To avoid severe herd losses, farmers are
trying to sell an unusually high number of animals,
according to the report, but lack of buyers is pushing down
prices to well below the norm.

At the national level, the poor harvests in the south
have been largely offset by good yields in other parts of
the island, where 90 percent of the cereal output is
produced. Good rainfall and agricultural extension and food
security projects have led to significant increases in
production, with rice and maize harvests exceeding those of
1996.

But this is no help to the poor farmers in the south. The
report warns: "Given the low purchasing power of the rural
population in the south, the Mission considers the food
supply situation as very precarious, particularly in the
southern coastal areas. The available food supply for many
rural households may not exceed two months' requirements."
The mission recommends urgent provision of food aid for
nearly 500 000 people in the area for three months - in the
form of food-for-work.

The current locust invasion in the south was started off
by larvae that escaped treatment in October 1996. Their
development was favoured by good rainfall at the start of
the 1996/97 season and the cyclones Fabiola and Gretel in
January 1997. By the end of February 1997, between 2 and 2.5
million hectares had been infested by swarms and hopper
bands. Since then, swarms have been spotted across south and
southwest Madagascar.

By 26 October 1997, about 700 swarms had been treated
over an area of 290 000 hectares. FAO's Locust Information
Officer Annie Monard said, "It's now possible to say that 80
percent of locust swarms in southwest Madagascar have been
destroyed". But she warned that, as the rainy season has
just started, breeding is likely to begin within the next
two weeks in central areas and monitoring and quick response
will be crucial.